UNITY VS. SEPARATION

The issue of fellowship was a difficult one because while they decided to abandon all party spirits and creeds, they also saw a need for association and fellowship. The matter finally came down to two choices:

1.     Should they stay inside and lead others out?

2.     Should they separate and point out the differences?

The matter was not decided by them. It was decided by those who rejected their teachings. They were forced to form their own congregations.

1.     Springfield Presbytery

a.     Barton W. Stone in Cane Ridge, KY, 1801

b.     June 28, 1804 – Last Will and Testament
 

2.     Brush Run

a.     Organized in 1810

b.     Applied for membership in the Pittsburg Synod of the Presbyterian Church. They were refused.

c.     They became independent for a short time.
 

3.     Association with the Baptists

a.     Invited to join the Redstone Baptist Association is 1813 because of their teachings on immersion.

b.     Campbell’s teachings on the Law and the purpose of baptism brought opposition. He was tried and acquitted in 1823.

c.     The Walker debate in 1820 and the McCalla debate in 1823 pushed them out of the Baptist fellowship.

d.     Many Baptists still accepted Campbell and he preached in their churches until about 1830.

e.     Disagreement with the Baptists on the following points of difference:

                                                    i.     Reject the Philadelphia Confession of Faith

                                                   ii.     Reject Calvinism

                                                 iii.     Take the Lord’s Supper weekly

                                                 iv.     Plurality of elders (bishops) per congregation

                                                  v.     Baptism is for the remission of sins

f.      Living Oracles was published in 1826. “Immerse” replaced “baptism” and “John the Baptist” became “John the Immerser”. Baptists objected to the “unorthodox tampering with the sacredness of the King James Version.”
 

4.     Why did he continue with the Baptists for so long a time?

a.     Maddox, pg. 337 – “If we would heal the sick, we must visit them.”

b.     “But so long as they will bear reproof, suffer exhortation, and allow us to declare our sentiments without restraint; so long as they manifest a willingness to know the whole truth, and any disposition to obey it; so long as they will hear us and cordially have fellowship with us, we will have fellowship with the, we will thus labor for their good and endeavor to correct what appears to be amiss – commending when praise is due, and censuring when it becomes necessary.”
 

5.     The issue is not a clear one

a.     Today, the questions center in those who introduce error into a congregation. When do you stay and try to correct? When do you separate and openly oppose?

b.     When do you stop fixing the old car and buy a newer one?

c.     I would advise one to follow the thoughts of Alexander Campbell.
 

6.     The Scriptures to Examine

a.     2 Corinthians 6:14-18

b.     2 Corinthians 7;1

c.     Revelation 18:4

d.     Romans 16:17

e.     1 Corinthians 16:22

f.      2 Timothy 3:5

g.     2 John 9-11

h.     Isaiah 52:11